Resources for Graduate Students

The Loyola Writing Center is a great resource for advanced academic writing. Grad students can access assistance from all three Loyola campuses. We offer in-person appointments, as well as online appointments for graduate students. Graduate students may schedule appointments in Tutor Trac. Please note, however, that a one-hour appointment can cover just a certain amount of information in a paper, probably 5-7 pages, depending on the topic and style of writing. If you have a long paper you may need to plan on more than one appointment over the course of the week. In order to ensure everyone has equal access to the center and to create productive working conditions for our tutors, we do not allow back-to-back appointments for the same paper or the same student. We also do not allow any student more than three hours worth of appointments in a given week.

Graduate Writing Workshops

Periodically throughout the year the Writing Center offers two hour long, free workshops for graduate students. The purpose of these workshops is to delve deeper into the writing process and the expectations for writers at the graduate level. From September through May, grad students may register to attend any or all of the following workshops.

Graduate Writing Groups

Research has shown that graduate student writing success increases as peer support increases. As one scholar put it, "graduate students tend to be their own best resource." With this in mind, the Writing Center helps graduate students organize and run informal peer groups, in which students support each other in their writing projects.

Graduate student writing groups consist of a cadre of grad students and one group leader, who is either a Loyola Writing Center faculty member or a Loyola graduate student serving as a tutor at the Writing Center.

Groups are free to set their own meeting schedule but usually meet one hour per month at a mutually agreed upon time and place. The group meetings revolve around a relaxed (but focused) conversation about the writing concerns/experiences of its members. Such groups offer ways for grad students to pool knowledge and available resources, provide emotional and practical support to one another, share drafts, expand their thinking about their writing processes and products, and enhance their connections to the larger graduate community. If you are interested in learning more about how you can participate in a Writing Center sponsored writing group, please email us at lwc@loyola.edu.